PMP Exam: Preparation, Audit, Recommendations
It's easy enough to find on the Internet what the PMP exam is, the formal requirements for admission to the exam, and the standard sequence of steps to pass. For example, on Habré .
However, in the process of preparation, I realized that the information on practical issues of preparation and delivery is not enough, especially after the audit.
In this article I want to share my personal experience in preparing, the process of applying for documents, passing an audit and passing an exam.
For a couple of years, as soon as I started to pass the formal admission requirements, I wanted to pass the exam and get a PMP certificate. It can be said that this was my blue dream, although in Russia then this certificate was not yet so popular.
')
My first attempt to prepare for surrender was just over a year ago. I started reading PMBoK and some Russian-language books. The training went hard enough - the dry text PMBoK was badly perceived. So when I changed my job last summer, I was not at all up to the exam.
Last fall, I was ripe for another visit.
After analyzing the past, not very successful experience, I decided to change the approach to learning.
I think that not only do I have better digestibility when discussing together than just reading books. Choosing between full-time and online courses, he stopped at the latter because of the flexibility of the schedule and cost.
I signed up for online courses on PMBoK, which consisted of 24 lessons (1.5-hour webinars, 12 lessons - analysis of areas of knowledge, the rest - putting the material together).
In December 2012, online training ended. Approaching the process of passing, as a project (which is recommended by every second person who passed the exam), I planned one week for Rita’s book (i.e. 3 months, see the paragraph about books), one week’s handprinting on questions — that is, the exam itself was planned in mid-March.
Below I will describe in more detail the methods of preparation.
Initially, I planned to take the exam in Russian (that is, an English text with a Russian translation), because, despite free English, I can sometimes take a long time to read into a large amount of English text. But, starting to read Rita, quickly became involved, and, already reading Russian books, often there were questions of terminology.
In early February I started filling out an application on the website pmi.org. Given the doubts, fees, certificates and breaks to think and collect thoughts - the process took about a week.
After the final submit, I was pleased that my profile was selected for an audit . The collection of documents took a week. After sending a UPS-mail to the specified address, two weeks later (beginning of March) I received an e-mail that I had successfully passed the audit. The letter was also my ID for recording for the exam.
At this point, I realized that I was getting out of time (I didn’t work at all during the holidays), and that one scheduled week for questions - I would obviously not be enough.
As a result, I decided to sign up for the exam at the end of April, so that I probably had enough time to complete the preparation.
In April, I passed the PMP exam successfully, received a beautiful certificate and a stylish badge.
Now in more detail on the stages of study / application / audit / exam:
After studying by correspondence training, I had an idea to study in a group. That is, dial 3-4-5 wishing to pass the exam, agree on joint training and periodic discussions of the material studied.
In practice, to fully implement this wonderful idea did not work. We were gathered by three people, we agreed to read every week on the chapter from Rita, and on the weekend to discuss on Skype issues. Unfortunately, after 3-4 Skype conferences we abandoned this format.
Nevertheless, I am still convinced that this method of teaching is very effective.
The only thing that was necessary:
As it was written in Rita, it is much more important to understand the “sacred meaning of PMI”, than to memorize something by heart. True, for this, apparently, you need to read Rita two or three times, so that everything will be remembered. For the exam, a number of things you need to know exactly by heart.
Something I managed to learn immediately. For example, after a card game from Rita, it is easy to remember which process belongs to which group of processes, or in what order the planning group processes go.
There were no problems with formulas either. Having solved a lot of questions, I remember all the required formulas (the list is with Rita). And after 5-6 times I wrote out all the formulas on a sheet of paper in 1 minute.
On the recommendation of a colleague who passed PMP a month before me, he began to learn the ins and outs of planning processes. It did not work very well, but in the end I came again to a graphic view. He drew a sequence of processes, what is required for input for each process, and what is output. The outputs of one were the inputs of other processes. The result was to fit almost all the processes on a single sheet of A4. The drawing / recall process took about 7-8 minutes.
And the formulas, but most importantly, the process diagram with inputs / outputs that I learned in this way helped me a lot on the exam (see Exam - what worked).
I registered on pmi.org in advance and paid the membership fee.
Applying for a PMP change consists of three parts:
There were no special difficulties, except for the translation into English (and filling in the field) of the level of my education. All the time I confuse what my degree of the specialist (5 years of study) equals in English manners.
I communicated in advance with my superiors and agreed that they would give me recommendations if necessary for an audit.
For admission to the exam is required to account for 35 hours of study.
Hours of study are divided into PDU (courses at the "official" training centers that have been authorized in PMI) and Contact Hours (that is, all other courses).
PDUs are automatically recognized by PMI, and Contact Hours may or may not be counted. I heard that if Contact Hours were not counted, then it would be possible to visit more courses and submit an application again, but could not find where I read about it.
As I found out, there is no “expiration date” for PMI. My first course was in 2006. I did 53 Contact Hours for 4 courses, including online courses.
Accurately identify the cause of the audit is impossible. Either I was just unlucky, or there was an inaccuracy in the questionnaire that confused PMI.
I tend to the second option, because in the questionnaire with my data, which I downloaded for an audit, for some reason the field of the specialty in the education column was not filled.
If the questionnaire is audited, then PMI requires that you provide confirmation of the information specified in the questionnaire. In principle, at this stage it is no longer possible to change the information (provide other courses instead of the indicated ones).
PMI gives 3 months to complete an audit. If you do not meet the deadline (although you can write a letter with them for renewal), or refuse to audit, then next time you can apply for the exam no earlier than one year later.
PMI asks for a copy of the diploma with an insert (where the hours of objects are painted), along with a “free translation into English”.
I decided that an officially translated diploma would be useful to me, and I ordered a notarized translation for 1,500 rubles.
In the questionnaire, I indicated my experience over the past 5 years. Two of my three direct superiors were in the city, so it was easy to get confirmation letters from them.
The third went to America. You could either ask him to send the same letter by regular mail (by e-mail can not), or go to the head of a higher level. Since I was not sure that Russian Post would be able to deliver the letter on time, I went according to the second option.
For the two courses completed, I had certificates in English. I copied them.
One certificate translated into English independently, plus attached a photocopy of the original.
For one course I did not have a certificate. After reading on the PMI website how to deal with such a situation, I contacted the trainer who led the course and explained the situation to him. He wrote a free-form letter (who is he, what course did he read for the course, and what did I really attend - the entire text is a quarter of a page), printed, signed, scanned and sent to me by e-mail. I just have to print it.
After collecting all the documents, I wrote a covering letter where I indicated for each document how I received it (that the diploma was officially translated and certified that there was no certificate at the course - therefore I attach a letter from the trainer, that instead of the boss I was signed by my manager such a reason).
All this sent UPS to the address indicated in the letter of the audit.
After 3 days, I received a notice of receipt of my letter PMI, and a week later I received confirmation that I had passed the audit, and that I had one year to pass the exam.
The exam itself was very similar to what they say about it.
Not a very large room Prometrik center in Moscow. Explanation of the rules (what is possible and what is not), and, finally, access to a computer with questions and 4 hours of the exam.
At the beginning of the exam, 15 minutes is given to deal with the testing program. It takes 2-3 minutes to figure out how to answer or tick questions, and navigate between them. In the remaining time, I wrote the formulas on a sheet of paper, and also drew from memory a scheduling process diagram with inputs / outputs.
I almost didn’t refer to the formulas written on the sheet, but the process diagram helped me to answer about 8-10 questions. I think that I would be able to answer correctly and without a diagram, but I would spend significantly more time on these questions, as I would have to recall the correct answer on the fly.
I recommend to wear clothes for the exam with a minimum of pockets, so as not to slow down the procedure of entering the room. Well, so that later there would be no unnecessary questions / suspicions of cheating.
4 hours without food / water is difficult. You can bring food and drinks with you, and take a break during the exam for a snack. For this you need to go out. Exam time does not stop, so you need to count their strength and the remaining time. It is desirable to lay out a bite in a separate package in order not to irritate the observers - they may ask not to touch the package with training materials.
In Moscow Prometrik Center there are no tea / coffee machines. I regretted not taking a thermos with anything hot.
In the end, I spent 5 months preparing for the exam. I think that it would be possible to prepare more quickly, because I was preparing in a fairly measured mode. From this period, you can safely deduct three weeks of vacations, two audits.
In addition, I set my goal not only to pass the exam mechanically (which is also not so easy), but I also tried to understand all the nuances, therefore, in principle, I was even “overqualified”.
I hope that my advice will be useful for those who are going to take the exam. If there are additional questions, ready to answer in the comments.
However, in the process of preparation, I realized that the information on practical issues of preparation and delivery is not enough, especially after the audit.
In this article I want to share my personal experience in preparing, the process of applying for documents, passing an audit and passing an exam.
For a couple of years, as soon as I started to pass the formal admission requirements, I wanted to pass the exam and get a PMP certificate. It can be said that this was my blue dream, although in Russia then this certificate was not yet so popular.
')
My first attempt to prepare for surrender was just over a year ago. I started reading PMBoK and some Russian-language books. The training went hard enough - the dry text PMBoK was badly perceived. So when I changed my job last summer, I was not at all up to the exam.
Last fall, I was ripe for another visit.
After analyzing the past, not very successful experience, I decided to change the approach to learning.
I think that not only do I have better digestibility when discussing together than just reading books. Choosing between full-time and online courses, he stopped at the latter because of the flexibility of the schedule and cost.
I signed up for online courses on PMBoK, which consisted of 24 lessons (1.5-hour webinars, 12 lessons - analysis of areas of knowledge, the rest - putting the material together).
In December 2012, online training ended. Approaching the process of passing, as a project (which is recommended by every second person who passed the exam), I planned one week for Rita’s book (i.e. 3 months, see the paragraph about books), one week’s handprinting on questions — that is, the exam itself was planned in mid-March.
Below I will describe in more detail the methods of preparation.
Initially, I planned to take the exam in Russian (that is, an English text with a Russian translation), because, despite free English, I can sometimes take a long time to read into a large amount of English text. But, starting to read Rita, quickly became involved, and, already reading Russian books, often there were questions of terminology.
In early February I started filling out an application on the website pmi.org. Given the doubts, fees, certificates and breaks to think and collect thoughts - the process took about a week.
After the final submit, I was pleased that my profile was selected for an audit . The collection of documents took a week. After sending a UPS-mail to the specified address, two weeks later (beginning of March) I received an e-mail that I had successfully passed the audit. The letter was also my ID for recording for the exam.
At this point, I realized that I was getting out of time (I didn’t work at all during the holidays), and that one scheduled week for questions - I would obviously not be enough.
As a result, I decided to sign up for the exam at the end of April, so that I probably had enough time to complete the preparation.
In April, I passed the PMP exam successfully, received a beautiful certificate and a stylish badge.
Now in more detail on the stages of study / application / audit / exam:
Training
Online courses
- “PMI-based project management” - coach Ivan Selikhovkin.
The course that gave me an understanding of the basic concepts of PMI. In general, the course is built on Rita (See books ), a significant advantage is that many questions are spoken about Russian reality, and there is an opportunity to ask questions - in this form the material was assimilated much easier.
In this course, we did not read PMBoK, did not solve the problem. But as a result, I received a general understanding, I can say that I was imbued with the “spirit of PMI”. After the course, even the dry text PMBok read much easier. - I planned to go to some full-time “official” courses at the very end of my self-training in order to refresh my knowledge before the exam, and, in fact, exchange my money for officially recognized PDUs (see the questionnaire form ). But it did not take, because there were enough hours of courses for submitting a questionnaire - therefore, I saved 15-25 thousand rubles and a week of vacation.
Books
- PMP Exam Prepared Bible Study Guide for PMP Exam is written by Rita Mulcahy , also known as Rita in the Russian-speaking segment.
The book is in English. Of all that I have seen, in this book, test questions are closest to the real questions on the exam. Very clear and accessible outlined material. I think the best thing is to prepare for the exam. The only thing you need to do exercises in the text of the book - really helps.
Again, there are so-called PMIs in this book. That is, the correct installation for the exam, which must be memorized and kept in mind when answering the exam questions. - “Professional Project Management” - by Kim Heldman . The book is translated into Russian, and on this, I think, its advantages end. Many people praise this book, but I did not like it. First, reading in Russian, you have to keep in your mind a glossary of terms. Secondly, the structure is different - the story goes not in areas of knowledge. In addition to what I didn’t like the most, the questions in the book as a test of the material I studied have very little in common with what was later in the exam.
Practice Lists of Questions
- pmprepare.com - I think that the most promoted exam preparation program. Subscription costs $ 99 for the first month, and $ 30 for the next. All questions in Russian and in English. In my opinion, not the best program to prepare. Questions are asked in a different plane, and some "exactly" will not be met on the exam. For example, some formulas are not required for the exam (according to Rita and PMI). I took a subscription for a month, and did several training 4-hour visits to fill my hand. In general, I do not recommend.
- PM FASTrack is a program from Rita’s publisher. I think that the most appropriate questions that I met during the preparation. By adequacy, I mean how these questions help prepare for the exam. There are some drawbacks - there are not so many questions, but the licensed version is quite expensive.
- I also tried a bunch of mobile phone apps (for android and for iOS) - I searched according to the words “ PMP exam ”.
Almost did not find more than one normal free application, except for “ PMP Prep ” - there is only for iOS. The remaining questions had little to do with the exam.
I also liked the PMP Exam Free - Oliver Lehmann program - 30 questions that in 100–200 rubles (I don’t remember exactly how much the application costs) will upgrade to the full version with 500+ questions. Useful to fill your hand. Questions, as it turned out, are quite similar to the exam, and you can practice in your free time (for example, on the road).
Group work
After studying by correspondence training, I had an idea to study in a group. That is, dial 3-4-5 wishing to pass the exam, agree on joint training and periodic discussions of the material studied.
In practice, to fully implement this wonderful idea did not work. We were gathered by three people, we agreed to read every week on the chapter from Rita, and on the weekend to discuss on Skype issues. Unfortunately, after 3-4 Skype conferences we abandoned this format.
Nevertheless, I am still convinced that this method of teaching is very effective.
The only thing that was necessary:
- Search for a group of people with the same motivation, including those who are going to take the exam at one time (one month).
- It is desirable that people be with approximately the same experience, so that there are no situations when one understands everything and the other way around.
- To recruit 4-5 people in a group so that at least three people come to each meeting / skype-communication. When only 3 people, then if 1-2 do not come, the wrong format is already obtained.
What is worth knowing by heart
As it was written in Rita, it is much more important to understand the “sacred meaning of PMI”, than to memorize something by heart. True, for this, apparently, you need to read Rita two or three times, so that everything will be remembered. For the exam, a number of things you need to know exactly by heart.
Something I managed to learn immediately. For example, after a card game from Rita, it is easy to remember which process belongs to which group of processes, or in what order the planning group processes go.
There were no problems with formulas either. Having solved a lot of questions, I remember all the required formulas (the list is with Rita). And after 5-6 times I wrote out all the formulas on a sheet of paper in 1 minute.
On the recommendation of a colleague who passed PMP a month before me, he began to learn the ins and outs of planning processes. It did not work very well, but in the end I came again to a graphic view. He drew a sequence of processes, what is required for input for each process, and what is output. The outputs of one were the inputs of other processes. The result was to fit almost all the processes on a single sheet of A4. The drawing / recall process took about 7-8 minutes.
And the formulas, but most importantly, the process diagram with inputs / outputs that I learned in this way helped me a lot on the exam (see Exam - what worked).
Apply for an exam
I registered on pmi.org in advance and paid the membership fee.
Applying for a PMP change consists of three parts:
- Confirmation of his education
- Proof of Work Experience
- Confirmation of courses completed
Education
There were no special difficulties, except for the translation into English (and filling in the field) of the level of my education. All the time I confuse what my degree of the specialist (5 years of study) equals in English manners.
Work experience
I communicated in advance with my superiors and agreed that they would give me recommendations if necessary for an audit.
Courses
For admission to the exam is required to account for 35 hours of study.
Hours of study are divided into PDU (courses at the "official" training centers that have been authorized in PMI) and Contact Hours (that is, all other courses).
PDUs are automatically recognized by PMI, and Contact Hours may or may not be counted. I heard that if Contact Hours were not counted, then it would be possible to visit more courses and submit an application again, but could not find where I read about it.
As I found out, there is no “expiration date” for PMI. My first course was in 2006. I did 53 Contact Hours for 4 courses, including online courses.
Audit
Audit reasons
Accurately identify the cause of the audit is impossible. Either I was just unlucky, or there was an inaccuracy in the questionnaire that confused PMI.
I tend to the second option, because in the questionnaire with my data, which I downloaded for an audit, for some reason the field of the specialty in the education column was not filled.
If the questionnaire is audited, then PMI requires that you provide confirmation of the information specified in the questionnaire. In principle, at this stage it is no longer possible to change the information (provide other courses instead of the indicated ones).
PMI gives 3 months to complete an audit. If you do not meet the deadline (although you can write a letter with them for renewal), or refuse to audit, then next time you can apply for the exam no earlier than one year later.
Education
PMI asks for a copy of the diploma with an insert (where the hours of objects are painted), along with a “free translation into English”.
I decided that an officially translated diploma would be useful to me, and I ordered a notarized translation for 1,500 rubles.
experience
In the questionnaire, I indicated my experience over the past 5 years. Two of my three direct superiors were in the city, so it was easy to get confirmation letters from them.
The third went to America. You could either ask him to send the same letter by regular mail (by e-mail can not), or go to the head of a higher level. Since I was not sure that Russian Post would be able to deliver the letter on time, I went according to the second option.
Courses
For the two courses completed, I had certificates in English. I copied them.
One certificate translated into English independently, plus attached a photocopy of the original.
For one course I did not have a certificate. After reading on the PMI website how to deal with such a situation, I contacted the trainer who led the course and explained the situation to him. He wrote a free-form letter (who is he, what course did he read for the course, and what did I really attend - the entire text is a quarter of a page), printed, signed, scanned and sent to me by e-mail. I just have to print it.
Letter to PMI
After collecting all the documents, I wrote a covering letter where I indicated for each document how I received it (that the diploma was officially translated and certified that there was no certificate at the course - therefore I attach a letter from the trainer, that instead of the boss I was signed by my manager such a reason).
All this sent UPS to the address indicated in the letter of the audit.
After 3 days, I received a notice of receipt of my letter PMI, and a week later I received confirmation that I had passed the audit, and that I had one year to pass the exam.
Exam
The exam itself was very similar to what they say about it.
Not a very large room Prometrik center in Moscow. Explanation of the rules (what is possible and what is not), and, finally, access to a computer with questions and 4 hours of the exam.
At the beginning of the exam, 15 minutes is given to deal with the testing program. It takes 2-3 minutes to figure out how to answer or tick questions, and navigate between them. In the remaining time, I wrote the formulas on a sheet of paper, and also drew from memory a scheduling process diagram with inputs / outputs.
I almost didn’t refer to the formulas written on the sheet, but the process diagram helped me to answer about 8-10 questions. I think that I would be able to answer correctly and without a diagram, but I would spend significantly more time on these questions, as I would have to recall the correct answer on the fly.
Household recommendations
I recommend to wear clothes for the exam with a minimum of pockets, so as not to slow down the procedure of entering the room. Well, so that later there would be no unnecessary questions / suspicions of cheating.
4 hours without food / water is difficult. You can bring food and drinks with you, and take a break during the exam for a snack. For this you need to go out. Exam time does not stop, so you need to count their strength and the remaining time. It is desirable to lay out a bite in a separate package in order not to irritate the observers - they may ask not to touch the package with training materials.
In Moscow Prometrik Center there are no tea / coffee machines. I regretted not taking a thermos with anything hot.
Result
In the end, I spent 5 months preparing for the exam. I think that it would be possible to prepare more quickly, because I was preparing in a fairly measured mode. From this period, you can safely deduct three weeks of vacations, two audits.
In addition, I set my goal not only to pass the exam mechanically (which is also not so easy), but I also tried to understand all the nuances, therefore, in principle, I was even “overqualified”.
I hope that my advice will be useful for those who are going to take the exam. If there are additional questions, ready to answer in the comments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/186948/
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